(Note: Remember, just one dollar of federal handout -- which comes,
by the way, from your taxpayer wallet in the first place -- establishes
federal nexus, which can and likely will bring your land under federal
regulations such as the Endangered Species Act and other land grabs. Ask
yourself: Is the pittance that they hand out really worth the misery
that will come, down the road? They even use the word 'dole' -- so you
know that it really IS a form of welfare. They're so kind, to call it a
'refund.')

Billings, Montana (AP) - The federal government is planning to dole
out more than $16.4 million in refunds to landowners who saw reductions
in their Conservation Reserve Program payments last year because of
drought-related haying and grazing.

Landowners in Montana, Wyoming and 26 other states can expect
refunds, the Farm Service Agency said Friday.

Money will go to those with land in CRP whose annual payments were
cut, generally by about 25 percent, because of emergency haying or
grazing, said Randy Johnson, the Farm Service Agency state executive
director.

Under CRP, landowners are paid to idle farmland for 10 to 15 years,
with the FSA making yearly rental payments and sharing with landowners
the cost of putting in place certain conservation methods. But the
government last year allowed for emergency haying and grazing in areas
hardest hit by drought.

Montana landowners are expected to receive about $4.2 million, the
biggest share of the refund total, according to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture. About 919,000 acres in CRP were either hayed or grazed by
cattle, Johnson said.

"Montana used the program most heavily last year," Johnson
said.

It was not immediately clear how the refunds would be issued, or when
the agency would begin issuing them.

In South Dakota, nearly $1.6 million in refunds were announced. More
than $1.5 million were expected in North Dakota and about $1.3 million
in Nebraska.